SHENANGO VALLEY AREA

7th District candidates appear confident, serious

Jack Kopen is looking to turn back the hands of time.

Kopen -- who is running against 10-term incumbent Democrat Michael C. Gruitza in the 7th District state House race -- seeks to be the first Republican from the Shenango Valley area since 1962 to win a state House seat.

But as confident as Kopen is that he can break the Democrats’ streak, Gruitza is serious about his 11th state House race in the largely Democratic district.

"I’ve heard a lot of encouraging things during this campaign," said Kopen, a 47-year-old Hermitage businessman.

Kopen has been campaigning door to door throughout the district that includes precincts in Sharon, Hermitage, Farrell, Sharpsville, Wheatland, Clark, West Middlesex and South Pymatuning and Pymatuning townships.

"There is a wide range of concerns in this district," Kopen said. "Both urban and rural. I have found that people want to talk about their concerns when I knock on their door."

Kopen, who has never sought political office, said he is "listening and taking notes."

Kopen wants to bring more and better-paying jobs to the district. He said he would work to ease certain tax burdens on businesses, such as a capital stock franchise tax that he said targets a company’s assets, not its earnings.

In some respects, Gruitza feels that the "assets" of being an incumbent are taxing. "People have a tendency to think that an incumbent is going to win and they might not be as enthusiastic. But I have never taken any campaign lightly," Gruitza said.

Gruitza, also of Hermitage, was first elected in 1980. He was a 29-year-old lawyer filling the seat of retiring eight-term incumbent Democrat Reid Bennett.

"The advantage of being an incumbent," Gruitza said, "is that you have been in a position to help people out."

"The disadvantage," he added, "is that the state legislature has become more involved in controversial types of issues. Sometimes you may not be able to satisfy everyone in your own family."

Gruitza said "there is a lot to be proud of" in the district -- road projects have helped "revamp the highway system, which was a mess." Gruitza added that he continues to work to "restore the economic base" that was hurt during the 1980s, with projects like the Keystone Opportunity Zone.

"We have focused on the needs of the district, generally in economic development and areas of tax reform," he said.

Both parties are focused this year on two state House numbers: 101 Republicans, 100 Democrats.

"It is a big deal. Both parties have targeted races and will spend a lot of time and money," Gruitza said.

The 7th District race is not being targeted by the House Democratic Committee: "I have not received any major contributions from them," Gruitza said.

In 1964 -- the year President Lyndon B. Johnson’s landslide victory incited rampant Democratic lever-pulling -- South Pymatuning Township Democrat Reid Bennett ousted state Rep. Ralph J. "Bucky" Down, Sharon, a six-term Republican incumbent, in the county’s northern district. The district included Sharon and points north.

Down was part of a GOP dynasty in Mercer County, which had not had a Democratic state representative since 1932.

The fact that the county’s two state House districts split the Shenango Valley, a traditional Democratic stronghold, contributed to the domination.

The year after Bennett’s 1964 victory, reapportionment created two new districts -- the Shenango Valley and the rest of the county.

The 7th District, which has been changed little by reapportionments since, has never elected a Republican.